Twenty
Second in OT C 2025
In the first
Scripture reading from the Book of Sirach, we read: ‘My child, conduct your affairs with
humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more, the greater you
are, and you will find favor with God.
This Old
Testament teaching on humility is a lead-in to today’s Gospel. From the evangelist Luke, Jesus’ table fellowship is the context for
teaching. Much of Jesus’ teaching takes
place in or around meals. Jesus also
will share table fellowship with anyone from Pharisee to leper.
In today’s
Gospel, Jesus is at a banquet and He notices how people scrambles to sit at
places of honor. It’s a very human scene
–we are like recognition, respect, and prestige. But Jesus turns that moment into a teaching
on humility: “Everyone who exalts
himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles will be exalted.”
Jesus is
dining at the home of a leading Pharisee.
Jesus has obviously been invited for more than pleasant
conversation. The people at the meal are
observing him carefully. He is known for
not following protocol during his table fellowship. As the story proceeds, the dynamic shifts
from the people observing Jesus to Jesus observing them. He is a wisdom teacher
offering lessons in humility.
As Jesus
observes the how the guests migrate immediately to places of honor, Jesus turns
the notions of honor upside down. Jesus
says it is humility that brings honor in the eyes of God.
As we well
know, in the political arena, in the sports world, and all too often in
corporate life, climbing the ladder of success leads us to a self-centeredness
that places ourselves at the center of the universe.
The
disciples of Jesus are to have a healthy sense of the value and the virtue of
humility. C. S. Lewis says that
“humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.” Humility leads to compassion and leads to be
involved in the lives of others.
Humility is not poor self-esteem; it is not a refusal to take any
credit; a humble person is not disturbed by praise. Rather, if we desire to be humble, we need to
look into the eyes of people in need and identify with their pain and hurts and
to respond with humble love to lift up people in need
Humility is
not just modesty about my talents. It is
about looking into the eyes of another and identifying with their hurts. Moreover, not just their hurts, we are look
in the eyes of another and see God’s beauty deep within their spirit.
Humility
frees us to see others not as rivals but as brothers and sisters.
And as Jesus
indicates in the gospel, without humility we cannot have a relationship with
God. To enter the wedding banquet – and
heaven will be a glorious banquet with Jesus as the Bridegroom and the Church
as the Bride – to enter the wedding banquet, says Jesus, “take the lowest
seat.”
Knowing God
makes us humble; knowing ourselves keeps us humble. All is a gift of God and we are the gracious
recipients of God’s merciful love. The
talents we have are God’s gifts to us.
Knowing ourselves and our own limitations keeps us humble.
Jesus goes
on even further: he tells the host not
to invite only friends, family or wealthy neighbors—people who can repay him –
but the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. Why? Because when we reach out to those who
cannot repay us, we are imitating the generosity of God Himself. God loves us not because of what we can give
Him, but simple because we are His children.
Humility helps
us to see ourselves as God sees us: loved but also in need of His mercy,
In today’s
Gospel, Jesus has a strange way of looking on whom to invite and who are the
most important. The point is everyone is
invited to the banquet of Jesus.
How
do we take this gospel about how to hold a banquet and who to sit next to, how
do we put it to work? It isn’t hard to see that every part of our lives are
touched by questions of who makes our guest list and who does not. Just for one
example, it’s hard not to notice that in such a pleasant suburban place to live
as we all live in, separation from others is just part of our world here
whether we planned it that way or not, and it’s a constant challenge to ask
ourselves about how we feel about the people who are not here, who are not a
visible part of this daily world of ours. They are all guests at the same
banquet to which we are welcomed.
How
are we to react to the unspeakable killing and injuring of the school children in Minneapolis Catholic school this
past Wednesday. For sure, we are on high
alert for the safety of our children. We
deal much too often with the scourge of gun violence. Our hearts reach out to all who are victims
of this violence.
The
challenge of today’s gospel is to look honestly at where we seat ourselves in
all the settings of our life, and who is included when we look around to see
who is with us, who we exclude from the circle of people we refer to when we
use the word “us.” We’re building the kingdom heaven here, where we find
ourselves, at least that is supposed to be our task, and the kingdom of heaven
is a place where literally everyone is invited, equally entitled to be there.
And Jesus doesn’t say this, but he implies it, apparently we’re going to be
kind of shocked, when we get to that ultimate kingdom of heaven, and find we
are reunited not only with those we love but also everyone we didn’t, seated
together in a way that has burned away everything that once separated us.
As we gather
for this Eucharistic meal today, we reflect on how we have gathered for this
meal. Do we see each other as brothers
and sisters? Do we see ourselves as
servants of each other? Do we see
ourselves as the servants of all who are poor?
There must
be a welcome in our Eucharistic community for the needy signified by the gospel
phrase ‘the poor, crippled, lame, and blind.’
What efforts do we make to ensure that no individual or group is
excluded from the Lord’s meal?
Have a
blessed day.
